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If a small, intimate beach affair is how you’ve always envisioned your big day, play close attention my friends because we’ve got just the wedding to welcome you back from your long, holiday weekend. Picture white sandy beaches, your besties all in blue maxi dresses from Anthro and the prettiest all white flower bouquets. Now combine all that with images from Hello Miss Lovely and you’ve got yourself one heck of a pretty day. See even more here.

From Hello Miss Lovely… This was a destination wedding for an amazing couple, Aubrey and Mickey. The wedding took place at the gorgeous, Alys Beach Resort in Alys Beach, Florida. Aubrey had a beautiful modern yet vintage wedding. She was inspired by this gorgeous, vintage, royal blue handkerchief that once belonged her grandmother. Aubrey and Mickey were both laid-back and so sweet! We were in the presence of true love. Aubrey’s bouquet and Mickey’s groomsmen’s boutonnieres were made by the one and only Bella Flora. Also, we can’t forget those bridesmaids’ dresses! Aubrey had her bridesmaids in blue maxi dresses by Anthropologie. After the ceremony we headed to Bentley’s in Rosemary Beach for the reception. It was a lovely day and we are so honored to have been part of it.

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I love Florida weddings – and today I am shouting it from the rooftops. Because this drop-dead gorgeous Rosemary Beach affair is exactly the reason why. An elegant soiree boasting the beautiful stylings of Celestine’s Special Occasions and a stop-you-in-your-tracks gown from Jim Hjelm, it’s everything (and I mean everything) I adore about the Sunshine State with a sophisticated simplicity that had me at the word hello. Dede Edwards captured all of the lovely and you’ll be dreaming of sandy beaches and crystal blue waters in no time at all. Click here for so much more.

Oh, and we’re not done yet. We have an amazing film from Josh Kidd Films for even more breathtaking inspiration. Enjoy!

From Dede Edwards… Ginny and I are so excited to share Marcy and Tommy’s Florida wedding with you! There was no large bridal party, just family, which we think is always the sweetest! It was a perfect day for joining two families together on the beautiful gulf coast at Rosemary Beach.

The moment I laid my eyes on this uber-stunning Gulf Coast bride, I knew I was going to love this wedding. I knew I’d fall head over heels for every last detail, every last bloom crafted by Events by Nouveau Flowers and every last moment captured so beautifully by Weddings by Christopher & Nancy. Because any bride that rocks a statement necklace like this green Rae Ann Creations number is guaranteed to throw a fantastically fun + crazy gorgeous soiree. It’s a science, really. So, prepare yourselves for some serious seaside perfection and click here for sooo much more.

From the Bride… Coming from the south, I told myself that once it was my time to walk down the aisle, I was not competing with football! Well, with a February engagement, my vision was not holding unless we had a winter wedding. Jarrett and I are not winter people and were really compromising our big day because of it. Our idea of an intimate, fun affair with our nearest and dearest and our love for the beach and warm weather put a beach-side wedding on the radar rather quickly! Finding V Seagrove and a house right across the street named A Shore Thing made it apparent our decisions were meant to be.

Our wedding week went off without a hitch! Our family and friends started arriving throughout the week and each night was a new celebration! The week included low country shrimp boils, beach-side bonfires and after-parties. The house, A Shore Thing, accommodated my wedding party, had beach access for the ceremony and a pool area to host sunset cocktails while we took our first photos as husband and wife. We made it official by signing the marriage license in front of guests and then led them across the street to the reception. V Seagrove’s contemporary design gave us the perfect lighting, water features, patio dancing and delicious food our guests are still talking about, especially the groom’s “cake” — bacon brownies served in small, cast iron skillets! Christina of Nouveau Flowers shared our vision and created the perfect look and feel for the beach ceremony, poolside cocktails and the reception.

So many small details brought thoughts of family and made our wedding uniquely ours — Adirondack “guestbook” chairs, my grandmothers’ pins on my bouquet, a family Bible and my grandfather’s fountain pens. Our wedding and the activities leading up to the celebration were memories we will never forget! We could not have asked for better vendors to take care of us, display our vision and capture our moments for us to view for years to come.

I am sure that I have seen the images from this very wedding in my dreams and I truly thought images so magnificent could only be real in my wedding imagination. It was not until I saw these real-life photographs from the oh-so-talented and lovely Tonya Beaver Photography that I became a true believer in what are some of the most gorgeous bridal portraits I’ve ever seen. Plus, this celebration’s honey and yellow themed sweets and treats were perfectly appropriate for a fête taking place at the Honey Lake Plantation in Greenville, FL. Find every moment of this day in our gallery right here.

From Tonya Beaver Photography… I arrived to meet the girls and immediately noticed the themes of honey and yellow for this Honey Lake Plantation wedding. The girls were dressed in yellow, and their flowers incorporated more soft yellow. Unfortunately, it rained the majority of their wedding day so we were unable to get certain outdoor shots, but we made the best of it, using a gorgeous, all-white room and wrap-around porch. For the boys’ photos, I hopped in a bus with them, and we went down to a certain “man area” on the property — a building made mostly of wood, with antlers on the walls and a crocodile coming out of the coffee table. It was a perfect spot for man photos.

Leading up to the chapel for the ceremony were lots of little wooden signs the couple had made. Once inside the doors, there was a chalk board with Instagram instructions, lots of photos of the couple and very subtle aisle markers. This chapel needed very little decor. Actually, rumor has it that the stained glass is THE oldest in the state of Florida! One of the couple’s friends played and sang “Marry Me” by Train as Lisa’s father walked her down the aisle. It was a breathtaking moment. Lisa’s father is a pastor, so he walked her down the aisle, then traded with Lisa’s brother-in-law at the altar. So not only did he get to give his baby girl away, but he also got to perform their ceremony. After the ceremony and a few family photos indoors, the rain stopped for a short time … enough to hit all the spots Lisa had hoped for her formal photos. She and Brad were such troopers, enduring the wet air and mud on the dress.

The wedding party was introduced into the reception, and they all danced the night away with friends and family. There were tears and a LOT of laughs. Again, Lisa played up the honey theme all throughout the day with the candy bar and yellow throughout the decor. We even got to sneak out for five minutes to take some night-time photos with Honey Lake lit up behind us. Once the reception was over, Lisa and Brad ran through a tunnel of sparklers and hopped in Brad’s fully-restored ’69 Camaro SS. A perfect ending to a perfect day.

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I had the hardest time putting this wedding together for you today. Why? Because it’s TOO beautiful. The soft pretty colors paired with pops of gorgeous. The photographs by KT Merry that are subtle and yet heartbreakingly sweet and lovely. So beautiful that I secretly want to order a few for myself despite the fact that I’ve never met the bride or groom. And the details. Oh the details. Just so pretty, so organically beautiful. I simply couldn’t figure out a way to do this stunning wedding justice. So please, please, pretty please, make sure you check out the full gallery so that you can really see the celebration in its entirety. It’s SO worth it.

From the Bride… Justin and I met while attending Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, California. I remember thinking he had really cute shoes and lovely brown eyes. :) We became fast friends, and over the course of a year and half, we became best friends. In 2005, we both finally had the guts to admit to each other that we were both incredibly in love. I remember the exact moment we decided to be together — it felt like I had just made the most important decision of my life, and I was completely and totally, happy. We supported each other through three HUGE moves back and forth across the country. Supporting each others’ hopes and dreams, failures and accomplishments. Then, finally deciding after six years together to make things official, Justin proposed to me on a beach in Seattle on Feb. 25, 2011, with our German Shepherd, Charlie, and my mother and sister looking on. It was perfect. Justin is my absolute best friend, confidant and soul mate. He makes me laugh every day and brings absolute joy and happiness to my life. I’m so incandescently happy to now be his wife.

This couple is awesome. So very, very awesome. Because, not only did they throw one seriously breathtaking wedding, they turned the greatest day of their lives into an ENTIRE week of fun-filled festivities. Yep, that’s right. SEVEN whole days of love and laughter with 40 of their closest friends and family. How fabulous is that? And their stunning Alys Beach affair? Beyond amazing with devastatingly gorgeous images captured by HBB Photography and bright pops of pink every.which.way you turn. Click here for so much more.

Ready for even more heartwarming inspiration? Check out the breathtaking film from Josh Kidd Films below!

From the Bride… Our wedding was actually a wedding week. We had a total of 40 guests, including our wedding party. We rented several different houses at Alys Beach. The parents decided to stay off-site, but all of our other guests stayed at Alys Beach because of this we wanted to have events every day and night. On Wednesday night, most people were arriving, so those who had made it in went out to dinner, and we met everyone else at the house after dinner for a little fiesta. Thursday was beach and bonfire day! We rented chairs and paddle boards and spent the day soaking up the sun and enjoying everyone. On Friday, we decided to take it easy because it was the day before the wedding.

Saturday was the wedding day! The weather was perfect and everything/everyone was calm. The ceremony took place at 5:00 p.m. on the Gulf Green at Alys Beach. It was beautiful with an aisle of white flower pedals and white chairs. We decided not to see each other before the wedding because we are very traditional. We wanted to take some photos before the ceremony, however, so we decided to stand on each side of a large door (where we couldn’t see each other), but we could speak and hold hands. We each wrote each other a funny note and exchanged the notes while separated by the door. It was my favorite part of the entire day because the purpose was to make each other laugh and get each other excited for what was about to happen. My father is one of my best friends, so I was very excited to walk down the aisle with him. I wanted to enjoy every single step with him, let him know how important he is to me and how much this moment meant to me. I walked down the aisle as everyone, including Curt, cried. I was the only one who didn’t cry because I was smiling too big to even think of crying.Immediately following the ceremony, cocktail hour began at the Central Park in Alys Beach while Curt and I took some beach photos. This was an amazing part of the day as well because it was just Curt and me on the beach.

We wanted our reception to feel pretty yet comfortable, intimate and very in tune with nature. Formal enough to feel like an event, yet casual enough to kick off your shoes and dance. “Classy Wedding, Casual Fun Reception” was what we were going for. There were string lights hung over the dining area and around the dance floor. Each table was covered in a light gray cloth and topped with various floral arrangements, as well as tall cylinder candles. There were four cocktail tables covered in a sky blue cloth, a small lantern and rose petals. The dance floor was a natural wooden color and surrounded by cream and brown outdoor furniture.Immediately following the last dance, our friends and family sent us off with a tunnel of sparklers. It was more than I could’ve ever asked for and I wouldn’t change one thing. It was flawless in my eyes.

This drop dead gorgeous wedding is just one of the millions of reasons why we love our jobs here at SMP. Where else can you start off your Monday morning with so many layers of pretty? It’s this kind of pretty that gets us up in the morning and keeps us swooning all.day.long. And this Rosemary Beach wedding has us especially giddy today thanks to all the unbelievably beautiful details starting with the bride’s fabulous dress. And it just keeps getting better! Lauren Kinsey Photography snapped up all the goodness and there’s so much more to see right here!

From the Bride… Our love story began back in March 2010 when we met at two of our good friends’ engagement party. A few weeks later, I went on the best date of my life with the most amazing man. I actually came home the night of our first date and wrote in my journal that I was going to marry him. I just knew it! A year later Jason asked me to be his wife, and of course I said YES. I couldn’t wait to get started planning our wedding. Jason and I took a trip with my parents down to Florida and fell in love with Rosemary Beach. We knew this is where we wanted to get married. The beautiful beaches, the quaint town with shops and restaurants, an all-white town hall to say our vows and the green to have the reception at. My dream has always been to have a long weekend of celebrations with family and friends, and this was the perfect place to have it. Once we found the venue, everything started falling into place. My mom and I spent many hours on every detail of the wedding. We both have design backgrounds, so this was such a fun experience to have together.

One of the best days was the day I found my dress. My mom and I were just out running errands for the wedding, and I had no intentions of looking for a dress, but we ended up driving past a bridal store so we decided to stop in and just browse. When I walked in, I saw the most amazing dress displayed inside the store. I had to try it on. Immediately once I put the dress on, I knew this was it. It was in that moment when I first saw myself in the dress that everything became very real. I felt like a beautiful bride, and I couldn’t wait to walk down the aisle to Jason. A couple weeks after I found my dress I was going through old boxes and found a page I had torn out of a magazine back in middle school. It was an Estee Lauder ad with Elizabeth Hurley in a wedding dress that was identical to my dress. I couldn’t believe that 17 years later I picked the same dress! My mom surprised me and had my favorite scripture verse embroidered on a piece of her wedding dress, and we had it sewn into my dress. She also recreated her veil for me to wear.

Everything about the wedding day was perfect. Jason and I added so many little touches that had significance to us. We had our guests sign rocks as our guest book because we wanted something we could display in our house for forever, and we also had cocktail napkins made with song lyrics on them that were meaningful to us. My favorite part of the wedding was when the church doors opened. Amazing Grace was playing, and I started walking toward Jason.

I admit it. When it comes to crafty projects, I’m not exactly talented. In fact, I am fairly certain absolutely certain I am all together missing the DIY gene. So, when I first laid my eyes on this breathtaking Cape San Blas affair by Tana Photography, well… I was equal parts giddy and uber-impressed. Literally overflowing with one amazing detail after another, it’s moment after moment lovingly crafted by the stunning bride and groom, plus family and friends. Or as we like to call it, DIY perfection. Click here for more.

From the Bride… Our families lived on opposite sides of the country — my family in Georgia and my finance’s in Idaho. The distance made selecting a wedding location difficult at first — until I realized the location could be just as special as the day itself. As a little girl, my family vacationed every year in a secluded area of Florida known as the Forgotten Coast. I have countless memories of the area, from collecting seashells on the beach to capturing fireflies at night. I wanted to share those memories with my fiancé and his family, so we chose Cape San Blas, Florida, as the location. Then I realized I only had eight months to plan a wedding 2,380 away. The entire wedding was made up of many DIY projects and was a labor of love for my family and friends. The location of the wedding is naturally beautiful, so we tried to keep everything simple and chose colors to play off the surroundings. We focused on shades of blue, cream, and brown, and used touches of jute and burlap. I collected and hand-made many wedding day items ahead of time in Idaho. Once we were in Florida for the wedding, my sister and I went to all the surrounding antique shops and other stores to find a few remaining things — old antique crates for the dessert table, fresh salt water taffy, and anything else we just had to have while shopping. My sister found a vintage suitcase, and we filled it with sentimental memorabilia from my husband and I while growing up, including our Georgia and Idaho license plates, which we used in our engagement pictures. My dad’s girlfriend helped us create our guestbook: a giant USA map for our guests to pin “where they call home.”

On a previous trip to Cape San Blas, my sister collected all the driftwood, shells, and blue mason jars for our centerpieces. We hand-painted oyster shells with the table numbers. The edges of the burlap table runners were cut and shredded to soften the look, and a few of the runners also had the lace that matched the signs that hung from our head table chairs. I’d made the “Mr.” and “Mrs.” chair signs weeks before the wedding. They were easy to create with burlap, jute, letter stencils, white acrylic paint, lace and pearl garland, and a hot glue gun. I glued jute to the backs of each sign so they could be tied onto the chairs, but they could be sewed together as well. The save-the-dates and invitations were designed by a friend, and the day-of programs and menus I printed out on card stock, cut and tied together with jute. We borrowed apothecary jars for the salt-water taffy on our favor table, and hand-painted signs directing guests to the beach ceremony, reception and the evening bonfire. Our dessert bar was the work of friends — one made the cupcakes, and another brought Derby Pie (it was Derby Day after all.) I made cheesecakes the day before. The favors we gave were chocolate Idaho bars, made by my dad’s neighbor in Atlanta. We served my uncle’s “secret” margarita recipe as our signature cocktail, alongside sangria, peach iced tea and ginger lemonade. The Cinco de Mayo sign on the drink bar was made by staining card stock with coffee grinds, then stenciling on letters and attaching the letters to the jute with hot glue. My mom, with a few helpers, arranged all of our flowers, bouquets and boutonnieres using simple baby’s breath, ranunculus, thistle, statice, limonium, delphinium and bouvardia flowers. She drilled the shells and then attached them to my bouquet with wig wire. My stepfather built a huge bonfire on the beach for our after-party, complete with a s’mores station and fireworks.

A moment that brought me to tears was when the groom’s mother gave us an old Florida license plate. The card said, “Where Georgia and Idaho become one.” Some of my other favorite things from the wedding day were dancing with my dad (he took months of dance lessons to get ready!), laughing all throughout the ceremony with my husband, the fabulous food, walking down the aisle to piano music my mother recorded for our special day, listening to my husband’s niece sing during our ceremony, my bridesmaids rating the groomsmen’s behinds while taking pictures, the awesome “Super Moon” that rose over the water and actually being able to talk to every one of our guests. My absolute favorite part of the day was how during the ceremony, before he was allowed to, my soon-to-be husband kept asking if he could kiss me yet.

Jonathan and I both studied abroad in Israel during our senior year of high school and even though we were there during different semesters, the friends I became close with were from the same high school as him and through them is how we originally met each other. It is through those same friends that our paths continued to cross throughout college (Jonathan attended the University of FL and I attended NYU but would run into him while visiting these same friends), life after college (birthdays, engagements, weddings) and 8 years later after a lot of running into each other, a friendship turned into something much much more.

We knew we wanted a destination wedding so that everyone would feel they were on vacation together, but didn’t want to deal with passports or long flights. We also knew we really wanted to get married on the beach and had dreamt of having the entire wedding, from ceremony to reception, outdoors. So being from the Miami area (even though we have tons of beautiful beaches) we began looking at venues on the west coast of FL to give us the feeling of being far but near. A dear friend suggested we check out the Sandpearl in Clearwater Beach for its gorgeous pure white sand and warm laid back vibe. From the moment we entered the resort it felt magical, they had the perfect beach and gulf lawn to accommodate what we had envisioned and we both knew then we would be able to make our dream wedding a reality.

Saying our vows to each other was a surreal but extremely powerful moment. Wedding planning was incredibly fun and I felt extremely lucky that Jonathan was not only very supportive but also very involved when it came to a lot of the most important aspects, but at the end of the day the commitment we made to each other was what was most significant that day and to write them ourselves was something very personal and important to both of us. Alex, our videographer, incorporated them in our highlights in a way that truly told the story of our wedding day.

Music was a major inspiration and I like to think of our style as some form of hippie beach chic – we wanted to try and blend the laid back hippie aspects of our personalities with the elegance and beauty of a wedding day. That was the inspiration for leaving the grass as our dance floor, being barefoot for the ceremony and having the entire reception outside on the beach. We tried to use some out of the box ideas for seating and table numbers – The seating chart was done on a chalkboard (that our wedding planner’s husband was kind enough to build the week of the wedding!), he made sure to incorporate the little picture of the Airstream RV we used to own and for our massive ‘Royal Table’ as I like to call it, each person had an individual place card which our calligrapher hand wrote with their nickname on it, which was held in a wine cork. This theme carried through to the other table numbers being on bottles of wine. One of my best friends was amazing enough to buy a bunch of tiny frames and place various quotes about love in each one and had them spread out on each of the tables. We also had a basket full of peace and love flip flops for all of the women to change into since dancing in heels would certainly be an issue on the gulf lawn. Instead of a traditional guest book, we had everyone write notes and slip them into a vintage mailbox. It was also really important to us that we honor the memory of our grandparents that are no longer with us and pay tribute to the generations of loving marriages that came before ours, so on the same table as the mailbox, we bought various vintage looking frames and displayed pictures of each our grandparents on their wedding day next to our parents on their wedding day.

Jonathan and I are very big music lovers and often use our vacations to travel for concerts and we’ve done everything from camp in tents to rent RV’s (and then eventually owned and restored an Airstream), so we wanted to incorporate that major part of our lives into the wedding. We really felt strongly about trying to make sure our wedding really felt like us.

Our love of music and concerts was also the obvious inspiration for the Beatles cover band (The British Invasion) – we kept that as a surprise for all of our wedding guests and it was such a hit. It really brought every generation out on the dance floor, singing and dancing the night away. Throughout the wedding we also didn’t have your usual wedding songs played, we made sure that in between The Beatles our DJ played songs that meant something to us, everything from Dave Matthews and Coldplay to Kenny Chesney & Tim McGraw.

There was a moment when Jonathan and I were the only ones on the dance floor and he just whispered to me, “look out there, they are all here for us.” And it was just one of those incredible moments where it hits you that this is your wedding day; you are surrounded by your closest family and friends and to have them all under the same roof (or stars in our case) happens only once. It gave us a moment to breathe that in together and Ryan Joseph, our unbelievable photographer, captured this moment in the photos.

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I happen to be the biggest fan EVER of brooch bouquets, so when I saw this glorious antique creation making a sweet, sweet appearance in this Destin Bay House soiree, I knew I was done for. And, honestly, who wouldn’t love this sparkly, draw-jopping masterpiece, especially when combined with a fresh natural color palette, uber-adorable bridesmaid frocks and a take-your-breath-away San Patrick gown? Yep, its a style-filled fête boasting beyond lovely images by Christie Meresse Photography and too much fabulous to count. Click here for more.

From Christie Meresse Photography… Lewis Clark and Maggie Hale had a simple, but beautiful destination wedding in Destin, Florida in May. Lewis’ family flew in from England, while Maggie’s family traveled from Tennessee. They chose to host their wedding at a gorgeous new venue in Destin, the Destin Bay House. Maggie created her own bouquet using antique brooches she purchased at antique stores in her home town, and she had a relative sew two garters for her to wear during the wedding. The dress Maggie wore was absolutely stunning, and the cake she chose was made completely of cake pops in cream and taupe hues.

Maggie asked all of her bridesmaids to select a dress of their choice using the color scheme she chose for the wedding, and they came together perfectly. Several groomsmen traveled from England to participate in the celebration, and they all wore a simple white shirt with khaki pants. The wedding ceremony was held overlooking the beautiful Destin bay with the reception following on the patio of the quaint venue.

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I fall in love with a new venue every.single.day here on SMP Florida, but today’s glorious Wild Heron location just might be my favorite yet. A gorgeous boathouse overlooking the pristine waters of Lake Powell, a darling gazebo perfect for ceremonies and a boardwalk just begging for a stunning Mr. and Mrs. and some uber-fabulous photo ops. Thankfully, Adria Peaden Photography snapped up every moment of Panama City Beach lovely, including the sweet vintage vibe and the DIY details crafted by the breathtaking bride. See it all here.

From Adria Peaden Photography… This couple was not 100% sold on the idea of a wedding photographer until the sister of the groom decided to gift a photographer to them. Thank goodness there was a photographer there to document the antique silver, lace and pink color scheme.

The day started with a first look next to the boathouse. We walked around the edge of the boathouse to find a spiral staircase and then out onto the boardwalk for some yummy, glowy, romantic images. Everything from the lace ruffles on the bride’s dress to the antique keys scattered around the reception made the whole event melt together. The ceremony was held in a gazebo on a lawn across from the boathouse. The bride was adamant that each detail be non-traditional. The flower arrangements on the gazebo were not hung level and they decided to face the crowd instead of the traditional way with their backs to the crowd. It gave the images of their ceremony a sweetness as they were able to gaze at their loved ones on the most important day of their life. While the catering, flowers, cake and music were all provided by vendors, the decorations were purely from the bride. She spent time shopping at local craft stores to make everything just as she wanted.

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Take note, lovelies. This Watersound Beach Club affair is a serious, serious lesson in understated elegance. I’m talking fab blush hues, a breathtaking seaside location and an oh-so-chic (+ stunning) bride rockin’ my new favorite Monique Lhuillier. Swoon. Add to all of that lovely some uber-gorgeous bridesmaid frocks and a gallery filled with pretty captured by whitebox weddings and we’re in for one downright glamorous, toes-in-the-sand kind of Monday. Sounds good to me. See it all here.

From whitebox weddings… Ashlee and David live in Alabama, but they love Florida’s beaches. They got married in the elegant beach town of Watersound Beach, Florida. Ashlee’s Monique Lhuillier dress was unique and perfect for the breezy, beach-side celebration. Photography and music were the two most important focuses of their big day. The couple allowed tons of time for photos, so we were able to meander through the beach towns to get a lot of gorgeous shots of the bridal party. After the ceremony, the wedding party went to the beach just as the sun began to set. The decor was elegant and understated — the setting was so pretty by itself that it was the decor. The bride and groom also love country music, and the groom is a talented musician. He hand-picked the band out of some of his favorite local performers from Alabama. The night ended with the groom and one of the groomsmen performing with the band. David sang a song or two just for his new bride. It was a very sweet moment.

I would describe this wedding as clean and simple. It was a great demonstration of how you do not have to go over the top to have a beautiful celebration. The bride and groom are super-cute too.

I was so struck by the beauty of this bride that I had a difficult time focusing on all the details. When I finally came to my senses I realized the stunning sensation that is this Florida destination wedding by Binaryflips Photography. I am in love with the little lanterns that the bridesmaids are holding in lieu of bouquets. Can we please see this more often? They are like pretty fairies lighting the way for the sweet couple. Then there is the rest of the decor all created by the bride and her mother. Eighty hand-crafted lanterns, and a slew of other little details, later a wildly elegant, classic, Moroccan-inspired, vintage masterpiece was born. Everything is just divine and you can see it all right here!

From the Bride… I come from a wedding planning background. I was the social event and wedding coordinator at the Hilton and Westin- I know weddings, and this one was finally about me, so it had to be perfect. I was determined to have my twist on all the wedding details. Of course, the venue was first and foremost. My parents gave me the cash and I immediately composed an excel budget spreadsheet- a girls gotta know her limits! Since I was little, I have always been a budgeter. Now, I had a decent budget, but I still had a hard time putting thousands and thousands of dollars into one night. My solution was to buy pieces that we now use in our new house! Reduce, reuse, recycle, right??

First and foremost, we (I) had to find an amazing venue. Since I grew up in Massachusetts and David in West Virginia; it was easy to decide on a destination wedding. My parents have had a house in Sarasota for about 5 years. My wedding assistant and I had been drooling over this amazing location for months. I got engaged on Friday, and I had an appointment to see the infamous Ringling Museum on Sunday. We toured the grounds and I was instantly in love. The manager brought us into the Ca’ d’Zan (House of John – the Ringling Family Mansion). I instantly knew that the vintage, Moroccan architect would influence my decor, but when we saw the “priceless” chandelier inside the Mansion – my mom started to cry! That sealed the deal.

The chandelier became the inspiration of the reception. I am happy to say, my mom and I are responsible for all the decor for the reception. We hand painted and “bejeweled” Moroccan lantern centerpieces with Swavorski crystals to bind our inspirations. We made all 80 lanterns- it was a 5 step process and took 6 months! I love the classic look of champagne and ivory, and I thought this was a perfect color scheme to “class up” the funky twist. I didn’t want flowers at all, I feel like they are a waste of money because they die 6 hours later! I wanted my bridesmaids to be able to take a piece of the wedding home with them! To me, flowers are the expected centerpiece, and I wanted something fresh- enter lanterns for centerpieces and bridesmaids. I compromised with my mom and carried a small bouquet and our florist created fabulous altar pieces that were so me!

We decided on a progressive buffet instead of the traditional sit down. My family always entertained and we never served a full meal, we would just have loads of appetizers and we would snack all day and all night! It only seemed right to have a similar flow on our wedding night. This allowed for all of our guests to socialize and mingle, and eat whenever they wanted to!

In memory of David’s late father, we tried to add an antique vibe to the entire weekend. David’s father recently passed away, and he was the biggest antiquer and historian I had ever met. Since our favorite place in Sarasota is Sarasota Architectural Salvage, and every weekend we when visited, we would stop by to check out the store, and say hi to all the employees (yes, we befriended them). Most of the decor we bought came from this shop! We mentioned the idea in passing about having the rehearsal there, and Jesse (the owner) was willing to give it a try! We felt like this was such an amazing tribute to David’s father, the perfect way to include him in our weekend.

Every detail had so much meaning to us in some way or another. From the vintage glove I wore at the ceremony (that was my great great grandmothers) to the perfect cupcakes, late night sliders and gelato, this wedding screamed “David and Kendra.” I was so thankful our family and friends really captured the significance of it all. It would not have been possible without my mother, she is equally responsible for this greatness.

To date, this is the best experience I have ever been a part of. I am sad I don’t do wedding planning any longer, but I do love my free weekends!